THE METH SCOURGE

Your cover story captured the devastating impact of methamphetamine, which
is certainly borne out by our experience at Phoenix House. The percentage
of teenage meth admissions to our Los Angeles program has risen sharply, so
that fully 30 percent of our adolescent clients last year reported meth as
their primary drug of abuse--up from 18 percent in 2002. Federal and local
law-enforcement agencies have done a tremendous job responding to the meth
crisis, but they will be the first to acknowledge that they alone cannot
solve the problem. The communities most threatened by meth tend to be those
in which treatment is most difficult to access. Arkansas, which has been
hit hard by meth, currently has only 49 residential-treatment beds for
adolescents with serious substance-abuse problems. The challenge is not
only to increase treatment availability, but to ensure that the treatment
provided is of sufficient duration. Research studies show that drug abusers
stand a better chance of remaining drug-free the longer they stay in
treatment. Our clinicians report that meth users are particularly difficult
to treat during their first 30 days, but once this period passes, they
respond to treatment just as well as users of other drugs.

Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D.

President, Phoenix House

New York, N.Y.